Paddle - Grey Owl Guide

$70.00 USD

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Early last spring, when the ice still held in the sheltered bays of the smaller lakes, Scott put his favourite Peterborough canoe in the water for a solo trip over to Lake Carney and down the Pineroot River. Whitney stood on the dock and watched him load his gear. Noticing the paddle he grabbed, Whitney muttered, “Bad choices son, you’re always making bad choices.” Then he walked off.

Sure enough three days later, as Scott ran his canoe down Clemow Rapids, his paddle snapped on a rock. Two thoughts instantly filled his mind. First, he realized his spare paddle was not strapped to the thwarts. And second, he was about to have a very bad day. It actually turned into three bad days. But that’s another story.

When Scott finally returned to Burnt Point, shivering and exhausted, he found two brand new Grey Owl Guide paddles sitting on his bed, a gift from Whitney who had the good grace not to say “I told you so”.

Grey Owl Paddles was founded in 1975 by Brian Dorfman, an avid canoeist who could not find high quality, hand-made paddles on the market. Mass produced paddles were unreliable, ugly, and ignored many of the practical design elements adopted by the voyageurs and Native Americans, informed by thousands of years of canoeing. Grey Owl Paddle Company was established to make a production line, high quality, hand-made canoe paddle.

The Guide paddle is a robust, classic pear design that can be relied upon in the most difficult circumstances. The cambered blade is carved from 3 pieces of laminated black cherry for added strength. The oval shaft is sold cherry. The tip is reinforced with casting epoxy and wraparound. It is then finished using high gloss exterior polyurethane with UV block.